Roque Arroyo Rodríguez has rediscovered the lost art of keeping stingless bees and is playing a key role in their local conservation in Puebla, Mexico. The traditional practice of stingless beekeeping, or meliponiculture, dates back to Mayan times, but has significantly declined over the past few decades and is a cultural aspect that is at risk of disappearing. Stingless bees produce sweet, light honey from native forest plant species. Their honey is valued both nutritionally and medicinally and can provide a viable income source to stingless beekeepers. In 2006 Roque Arroyo Rodríguez develop a local stingless beekeeping cooperative, Texochco Sentekitini, in Sierra Norte de Puebla, México. The Texochco Sentekitini cooperative has twelve members that keep bees, and has grown so much that contract pollination services can be provided to growers of local fruits. This all generates income that can support families and the community. Roque and Texochco Sentekitini are proving the value of pollinator conservation and management in Mexico.

2012 NAPPC Pollinator Advocate MexicoRodrigo Medellin, Ph.D.
Heads the Program for the Conservation of Migratory Bats, a partnership between the Institute of Ecology, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, BIOCONCIENCIA, and EcoHealth Alliance.

Like the inaudible chirps and clicks of the bat, the desperate need to protect these animals often goes unnoticed. For more then 25 years Dr. Rodrigo Medellin has been working to change that. As we mark the International Year of the Bat we celebrate Dr. Medellin’s career and commitment to the flying mammal that helps cactus fruit, controls insect populations, and fills cultural mythology.During his career Dr. Medellin founded and today heads the Program for the Conservation of Migratory Bats, a partnership between the Institute of Ecology, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, BIOCONCIENCIA, and EcoHealth Alliance.

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For over a decade Dra. Isabel Ramirez has been supporting an epic migration that spans a continent. Dra. Ramirez has taken a lead role in promoting and protecting critical overwintering habitat for monarch butterflies in Mexico. Her work with local citizens has preserved habitat and has given both the monarch butterflies and the community a second chance. Dra. Ramirez’s conservation action is supported by her research into how local land use change impacts the local climate at the Monarch Butterfly Reserve in Mexico.

2010 NAPPC Pollinator Advocate Mexico
Humberto Berlanga

Press Release for Humberto Berlanga
Mr. Berlanga has achieved ineradicable results in avian conservation within Mexico and for the first time has coordination national and international efforts for the conservation of important avian species and their habitats. Migratory pollinators that travel between Mexico and the United States and Canada have been a big focus of Mr. Berlanga. His work has set up monitoring and observation station along important migratory routes that will collect valuable data for future conservation and habitat protection

NAPPC
P2 manages NAPPC, North American Pollinator Protection Campaign, a growing, private-public collaboration of more than 120 diverse partners, with scientists, researchers, conservationists, government officials and stakeholder representatives working for over a decade to support the health of pollinating animals and the plants and habitat that they support. More information about NAPPC is available at http://www.nappc.org.